Tuesday, October 28, 2008

47 comments:

Way to go early voters - over 1,000 people took advantage of early voting yesterday (the 1st day polls were open!) alone, while in the Spring, there were only about 1,000 voters in the entire WEEK of early voting!

I saw the article about naming rights on the new Wellness Center and I guess I hadn't been following the story close enough, as I thought it wasn't a for sure thing that it was being built. Are we getting a new wellness center in town? Is it going to have it's own membership, or will a Y membership work at both. We go to the Y, I'm not thrilled with the facilities, but it does have free drop in childcare (a must for us) and I like that the Y has a history of being good to the community and I feel like my fees are going to a good cause, but I do get tired of how old and run down things are there. What will the new facility look like?

At this point in the game, you should know who you're voting for, you've had months of nothing but election talk to make up your mind. I don't think Howard Dean in the building is going to be a factor. It sounds like it's going to be low key and not flaunted in the face of voters.

I don't think Howard Dean should be at the Alerus while early voting is going on. I don't so much have a problem with the "campaigning while polls are open" as much as the fact that he is pretty much given the ability to have his own soapbox and campaign at the polls. It may not make a big difference, but it's sets a bad precedent for future elections. Possibly a slippery slope.

What's Howard Dean doing here? I don't think he's running for anything relevant, is he? If there's a bunch of "Obama for President" banners at the door, that's one thing, but if you think someone is going to wander by a sign that says "Howard Dean here" and decide to vote of Obama instead of McCain, that's a little delusional. Particularly given that there are about a million "yard" signs cluttering up the streets surrounding the Alerus.

Sorry for shifting the convo from election politics (which is certainly interesting), but did anyone have lots of trick-or-treaters? We had 13 total. I was shocked! It was fantastic weather! I'm just hoping we were a fluke, and that there were places out there that were inundated with kids in costumes.

I think Treat Street has become the ONLY destination for a lot of families. When I lived in Grand Forks, I never had any trick or treaters. This year, I worked at a Treat Street sort of event in my new town, but I still had 13 trick or treaters after it ended. However, I'm a teacher, so my students wouldn't go home until they hit up my house. :)

I can't believe how many people go to treat street, I've talked to a lot of people who don't even like it, but they go because there's nothing else to do. It's a terrible event.

There is such possibility there to make it a fun event, but the way they run it is awful. They should not make kids stand in line the whole time, that's horrifically boring and unsocial. It should be set up more like a "home or garden show" on the main floor, with businesses having a booth that they decorate and kids can come trick or treat their booth. If vendors are worried about kids coming several times to load up on candy, give them a "treat street map" when they pay their admission and when they've trick or treated your booth, you punch-hole their map.

It could be so cool, you could have street signs set up with goofy names like "goblin road". Businesses could be creative decorating their booth. Kids could actually move around instead of being herded in a LONG winding line all night. You could have a "park" in your Treat Street town where kids play mini games, and a "cafe" where you can buy candy apples and hot chocolate.

Is Treat Street the thing they do in the Alerus Center? We went to that last year...spent 2 hours in line for a 20 min run through and a didn't get that much candy...way too long for children with short attention spans. It would have been if they could have had some interactive games or something but it was like a cattle call being herded through that line. We stayed in our neighborhood this year and although we started early, there were a lot of kids out enjoying the nice evening. It was a gorgeous night to be out. If you stayed indoors you missed out.

I know there are bigger, more inspiring things going on today, but seriously - how many times can the same section of interstate be worked on?

I'm talking about you, I-29/Demers overpass. This is what, 3 or 4 times now since spring? Why does that part of the road constantly break? I remember some months ago, as soon as they finished the northbound lanes there was a giant chunk of concrete ripped out.

Is this the fault of the company doing the work or is it something else?

Sorry for back tracking a bit. I work for a nursing home in Grand Forks which holds an annual "Halloween Festival" each year. This year it was on October 30th. In addition to trick or treating, we also offer games with prizes, dancing and singing clowns, a magician, and a few other events. This year we estimated around 350 kids attended the event. We actually ran out of candy a little over half-way through. Did anyone else attend this event? If so, any feedback is appreciated. Thanks!

This year was our 7th Annual. The event is held at our 4000 Valley Square campus on the corner of 42nd st and 24th ave south. We used to do some advertising on Channel 2 and in the GF Herald. We have cut back on the advertising because word of mouth seems to be working well. We are close to being maxed out...we don't want to get much bigger than what we've been the last few years because it takes away from the experience. GF Kiwanis has been the primary sponsor for this event.

Parsing our election results, I'm struck by the duality between our internal and external politics. Last night we became a bit like California internally, while California became more like us in North Dakota, and reacted more conservatively to their own measures. Read more about that if you wish on my blog.

Someone not familiar with measure one might not understand exactly what was going on there from reading your blog, Andrew. I personally like the idea of putting a large amount of money aside that can't be touched and will produce a lot of interest, however I voted against measure one because I disagree with the percentages being written into the constitution.

I voted against measure two because 1) I believe that cutting income taxes will make it harder to cut property taxes and 2) I'm a student, and since education is typically the last thing for which money is budgeted, less money going to the government overall means less money for education. I'd gladly vote for tax cuts if the state would step up and pay the amount promised to higher education every year, rather than passing higher costs off through tuition (as an aside, tuition is also getting worse at UND because now we have the "Division I Tax" in student fees and the "Parking Ramp Tax" on parking passes as well).

I was really surprised at all the votes against gay marriage. It looks like that's an area that people (whatever area of the political spectrum they come from) still can't say "live and let live."

Overall, it's been the most draining political season I've ever seen. I only hope that the country can step back, catch its breath, and then try to actually work together to fix the problems we are facing. I hope that people can look at politics without thinking "us versus them" and focus not on winning but on doing the best things for the country. I wish this divide between the two major parties were not so wide, and I hope our political leaders will realize that with the choice we made for president yesterday, we are really saying that we want a new way of doing business.

Goon, you don't need to try to read between the lines of what I wrote. I mean actually "getting along." I don't mean one group lording it over another group, and what I truly hope for is for people to stop violently reacting to ideas that come from the "other side." This includes all of us.

Let's judge legislation and presidential acts in the context of how they affect our economy, rights, national defense and standing in the world. Calling this or that "socialistic" does nothing to move the dialog-or the county-forward.

Whozit,IF it is socialism it will be called socialism, spreading the wealth around is very socialist and if BHO choses to go down that road it will be addressed.

I am not sure why people think we need to just blindly get behind BHO like he is some kind of savior or Messiah? I don't remember the left doing that to GWB. In this country we have a two party system for a reason. Some of us dont believe in redistribtution of wealth and a socialist agenda. This is not the Soviet Union and we still live in capitalist society.

Kelly, interesting I had not heard that yet... I really don't see that working that great as the distance between the two and another restaurant in between the two (texas roadhouse)

Why do people CONSTANTLY think an olive garden is coming up here!? do you not the previous posts on biz buzz? Ryan had called them and they have no plans to make one up here. Case closed, lets move on with life.

I swear someone just needs to make a "Grand Forks Olive Garden Blog" and then everyone can dream of breadsticks and pasta over there... it's starting to get sickening with every open thread, heck even non open threads with a topic getting derailed with olive garden talk.

I think an Entertainment complex there would work fairly well. I alwasy though the old best building could be a great place if the parking lot were fixed up along with the front of the building... It just looks way to nasty, and from what I've heard the owners are asking to much for rent in the building also.

Again, it doesn't look like people (in this thread at least) are saying that you have to fall behind Obama and agree with everything he says. A lot of us believe it's time to stop whining about party politics and get down to business. Even John McCain said he would "reach across the aisle" to accomplish things that need to be done.

Your knee-jerk reactions to everything with a "Democrat" label as a bad thing are getting old and tiresome.

Is there a process for a recall of a school principle? I know their not elected, but the EGF high school principle got a DUI in North Dakota in late September and I haven't heard a peep from anyone about it.

I think this is disgraceful to the community and a terrible example for the kids. I also heard that he might have been with his son and have been hunting while getting the DUI -- though this hasn't been confirmed.

You can't "recall" someone who hasn't been elected, but if this is on your mind, you should contact the School Board and/or Superintendent of Schools (or whatever they have) and have a talk with them. They, as an elected body, can be pressured by the electorate.

I agree that this isn't good behaviour to serve as an example, but without the facts (and rumours such as you name aren't facts,) one may be jumping to conclusions and the school officials may, in fact, be dealing with it (if the person was going through treatment and didn't do it again, for example, I don't think they should lose their job.)

Then again, I'm not an EGF resident, so it's really none of my business (and, if you're not either, don't expect the School Board to be too concerned with what you have to say, rightly.)

Our principal got a DUI when I was in high school, small school, maybe 15 kids per grade. Everyone knew about it, he was insanely drunk behind the wheel, kids were more shocked by the news than the parents. Kids were looking for some type of "consequence" to happen to him, but parents just looked the other way and said "life happens, can't expect him to be perfect". I didn't think that seemed right as a kid, and I'm not sure it seems right now. I don't think the guy should have been fired, but at least a public apology for being a bad role model would have been a start.

I don't know anything about the case in EGF, but I think that anytime adults in child-leadership positions screw up, they should admit fault to the kids and use it as a teaching moment, it's a very humbling thing to do, but speaks volumes to kids about responsibility and accountability.

Hey GFG I thought this was last weeks installment of the open thread? Is this going to turn into a three week open thread? I seem to remember this happening often before the revamp also... Just wondering. :D

Like it or not, we have a progressive tax system, which by its very nature redistributes wealth. If you want to call that socialism, so be it. Every new tax or elimination of a tax moves us along that continuum. Calling it socialism, however, does nothing to inform the debate, except give people red meat to chew on.

Whozit, I am not sure what else you would call it. Taking money from people that don't deserve it or have earned it is socialism. Call a tax cut a check from the government when you don't pay tax cut is socialism or Marxism. We can play with words all we want but it is what it is.

Subscribe

NOTE: The views expressed in original posts on "Grand Forks Life" are merely the views and personal opinions of the owner of this blog. No guarantee is given for the accuracy of content. The views expressed in reader comments are the views of those readers. "GrandForksGuy" and "Grand Forks Life" do not endorse the views of readers.